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Democracy

In her book Women and Power: A Manifesto, Mary Beard looks at the ways women’s voices are not heard in contemporary culture and politics, and traces it back to the Antiquity when “to become a man was to claim the right to speak.” Public speaking simply defined masculinity and this influenced the societies we live still in today and the institutions we have. “The point is simple but important: as far back as we can see in Western history there is a radical separation - real, cultural and imaginary - between women and power.”

Growing up, I remember reading about various women’s movements, about the Suffragettes, about the feminism of the 60s and 70s, about the women who fought the hard battles so I could live in the level of semi-equality I do today. I was always intrigued, and inspired by their passion, and understood the importance of their fight and their sacrifice. It was because of them that I knew I could be anything, do anything I dreamed. But somehow, I still didn’t really understand the true power of women yet.

A significant problem to me a few years ago was the idea of young women rejecting the term feminist. As the feminist daughter of a former NOW chapter president, this upset and confused me; I was afraid of the “post-feminist” direction our society seemed to be headed. I was not aware, however, that we had apparently entered a new wave of feminism sometime in 2013—whether this was a fourth or fifth wave is subject to much disagreement. I’m not going to attempt to clarify which “wave” we are currently in, but I have always considered “waves” to be synonymous with movements, and I do believe we are most definitely in a new movement.